Are new houses hifi friendly?

That was me, but really would need to be a dry mix of sand and cement

Yep remember that :flushed: been a plaster for years new one on me. Can’t help thinking pouring all that gear behind walls and potential bulging effects of walls

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Hm, imagine the potential drama of a big bass moment during a track, then the whole wall with a tonne of sand coming down on your HiFi and Speakers - I doubt home insurance would cover that one. Can you imagine the laughter when they read out that claim

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We have a new build and yes sockets, where the hifi goes is important, but more important is whether the house is right.

Given the amount of tweaking and sound adaptions people go through I’m not sure any home is perfect.

I’ve changed my system to suite to the room it is in, no floor standers as our living room is on the first (suspended) floor and speakers are on the wall.

I suspect the only time you’d get the perfect room is if you actually specified the space in a new build…

Why? No benefit cement unless you water it afterwards… it is akin to the 1950s speaker design approach of sand panel filling - actually a very effective way of producing acoustically dead speaker snclosures, and I would expect the same of walls.

Has anyone tried???

If dry sand approx 45 kg per plasterboard sheet (2.4x1.2m) per cm air gap, in my experience rarely more than 1.5cm, so say up to 68kg per plasterboard sheet. Not only should that be adequately by the dot’n’dabbing, but the only insurance risk would be if the board were to spring forth, which would suggest ineffective adhesive so no reason for insurance claim failure in the extremely unlikely event of failure.

I suspect being loose, could lead to bulging. If you consider that vibrations from bass would cause the gap created as the board moves away from the block on the vibration to be filled by the gravity fed sand. Would this just settle over time, or shake down and budge? I don’t know, but if someone wants to test it, please report back

Surely on a new build, it would be simpler to just ask a tradie to tear down flimsy walls and replace them with something more substantial.

On a new house before you get settled is yhe time to take care of this stuff. The cost will be forgotten compared to the house cost itself.

Personally, I’m going the new build route but even then, many accredited home builders will force a menu of options on you where none are ideal. You’re likely to have to make after market alterations then too unless you go through the trouble to interview architects and builders personally.

If you can get unalterable fundamentals right like room size and height, other stuff can be fixed if there is the desire without too much expense.

Most newer houses are smaller so they restrict your options a great deal.

Please pay attention to this and you need to visualise (and agree with your spouse) where the hifi can be placed or it will be a costly mistake you have to live with for a long time.

Indeed. The UK has very much gone the way of Japan in this respect. An Englishman’s home is his rabbit hutch.

Horrible trend and with increased WfH, untenable in my view.

You ask why i would add cement
Well sand alone will stay as sand, lose between the pkaster board and block, so if you make a hole in it for some reason, then sand will poor out.
Adding dry cement to the sand will set in time, as moisture in the air will do that, it will take some time, but it will eventually set, this will give a much more solid wall, no problems if you drill a hole in it, plus remove the extra weight pushing on the bottom of the board.
Just to add, some old posh homes, had sand above the ceilings, between the floor, to help for noise. But what a sod it was if you happened to come across this and drill a hole in it, as has happened to me a few times over the years.
So its not a new idea really, but its an adaption and should work fine on a dot and dab wall to remove the void, if you need too, obviously no good for a stud wall or the metal stud walls you fine in new homes, that a different problem

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Not really as easy as that, it will make a massive mess, plus the dot and dab sticks out much further than traditional plaster, so that will cause you problems with floor and maybe ceiling, not to mention new skirting, etc.

If you’re getting a new house especially if it’s not built yet wouldn’t it be a good idea to get them to put a dedicated spur for the the hi fi stuff. Plus network cables around the house.
Easy to do before the walls are finished

Thank - makes sense. Might be speeded up if the opportunity affords itself to thoroughly wet the wall surface allowing to soak into the skim plaster (assuming skimmed).

Unless an up-market house it is unlikely that the building firm would accompdate anything different (other than the finishing options), so you’d have to engage someone after completion of purchase - in which case no different if you buy an old house. In both cases of course how easy depends on what you want and whether, for example, a brick wall will need the floor taking up and foundation put in for it where there was a lightweight stud wall.

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I get that. But that’s miles easier on newer properties. It is a big job. It’s having builders in. I’d totally expect it to entail repainting, papering, coving the ceiling and all the other walls for it to match and refinishing a part of the floor. But the point is it’s totally doable in a couple weeks. Try that in an old house and one thing leads to another, or the wall has load bearing columns that can’t be easily shifted. Totally different kettle of fish.

Of course the building firm would say no. I’ve been there and hit that wall (no pun intended). But it’s a different entirely from an old house (see above). I’d totally expect it to be an aftermarket change with your own builder after keys have been exchanged.

There are very substantial options that aren’t classified as load bearing. The home we just sold was new built in 2013 and it used a high density panelling with some type of solid metal sheeting sandwiched between. It made for thin walls but to knock them was like plaster covered brick. Heavy, but not so heavy they need under floor support. Basically the same construction as walls in high end office space where clients routinely tear them out and muck with layout.

Ultimately it is down to each person’s appetite for having building work done. It’s easier when new. It only gets harder and more expensive as properties age. Wile I’d not call it a breeze, there’ll never be an easier time. And isn’t it important to get your home the way you like it?

This all seems to be a bit strange. Don’t you folks have Insulation in the walls? I hear horse hair and extra plaster and yada yada yada. A typical new construction is designed to be efficient. So poured concrete basement then typically 2x4 framing , then marine grade 3/8 inch outer sheathing then the whole thing gets wrapped with Tyvek which is a weather proofs wrap. Then bricks, or stone or siding. On the inside once the electric and water and venting etc is in place any gaps are filled and typically fiberglass baffles are installed between the wall studs. A newer technique is blown in foam insulation that’s installed once the sheet rock is installed. This for exterior walls but many folks also insulate interior walls also for some level of room to room sound attenuation. There’s also technics for building hifi room with offset double walls etc. plenty of info online

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We bought a bog standard 4 bed detached from one of the biggest UK developers and whilst picking options (such as each room flooded with CAT6 Ethernet) I asked about a dedicated radial for the hifi. I was charged £50 for RF insulated 10mm/sqr T&E with a switch less Crabtree socket. One of the perks of making decisions before 1st fix.

I asked about sound proofing but because a lot of the best products weren’t on the developers approved list they wouldn’t install.

But as we re-decorate each room (we’re now at the 6 year point) I’m taking the time to pull the plasterboard off, add in the best sound/mass products I can afford then re-plaster. It’s adding about £300 to each room. Plus I’m adding sound absorbing mats to the 1st floor as we re-carpet. It’s basically thick heavy underlay and has nearly removed footfall noise.

I did exactly the same as the OP, and imagined the hifi layout before anything else!

Put me in the camp of believing a new build (at least in the UK) can be good for hifi.

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Dont really get where you’re going, not moving walls. Just changing dot and dab on block walls to traditional plaster, it will require the same amount of work if it was done yesterday to 20 years ago.
Obviously it can be changed, but its not a 5 minute job, very messy and costly.

Can you describe the SQ improvement in doing so? Do you think its was a cost effective improvement for the gain you got?

Modern houses are well insulated but you still get the dot and dab if you have block walls.
Like i said a lot of new builds are going timber framed inside, as its quicker, cheaper, less moisture in the build, so they can build quicker and sell it quicker.
This then wont have the void, but it also hasn’t the mass that naim speakers like